CAIRO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes has opened a representative office in Bangladesh, a top bank executive said on Tuesday.

EFG Hermes, one of the largest investment banks in the Middle East, is ramping up execution capabilities in markets such as Vietnam, Argentina, Morocco, Kenya and Nigeria, chief executive for frontier operations Ali Khalpey told Reuters.

The Bangladesh office’s activity would initially be to “facilitate the investment of foreign portfolios and our direct investment clients who want to invest directly in the broader economy of Bangladesh in sectors such as financial services, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure,” Khalpey said in response to emailed questions sent by Reuters.

The investment bank is interested in “the West African market and Nigeria in particular, which has seen economic improvement and reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria that led to the improvement of the foreign exchange market’s performance,” Khalpey said. (Reporting by Ehab Farouk, writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)